A Marin judge Thursday refused to grant a new trial to the attorney for eight plaintiffs who said they were injured when the bikes they were riding crashed because of a defect.

The claim was dismissed by a jury on Feb. 9 after a nine-week trial in Marin Superior Court. The attorney, Mark Webb of San Francisco, argued that Judge Michael Dufficy was biased in his oversight of the case and let the corporate lawyers for the defense overpower him.

Webb sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and San Rafael-based Dynacraft BSC Inc. in February 2005, claiming they sold bikes with defective quick-release wheel features that did not include back-up mechanisms.

The civil lawsuit claimed that children catapulted over the handlebars of their bicycles when the quick-release front-wheel feature failed.

Jurors said after the verdict that Webb did not provide evidence of any defect. In arguing for a new trial, Webb said Dufficy stated out of the presence of the jury that the quick-release levers worked properly if they were tightened correctly.

In addition, when during deliberations jurors told Dufficy the wheel of a sample bike they inspected fell off, the judge instructed the jury to disregard the fact.

“The case was over,” Webb said.

Webb said he is a sole practitioner who filed the lawsuit because of the injuries the children suffered and because Dynacraft continues to import and Wal-Mart continues to sell the bikes.

“The faces of these children will remain with me forever,” Webb told the court.

Joanne Early, an attorney for Dynacraft, said that, under legal procedures, Webb should have objected during the trial if he thought Dufficy was biased.

“He did nothing – he said nothing,” Early said, noting Dufficy was very generous in giving counsel the opportunity to raise issues. “The plaintiff sat silent because there was no bias.”

Early argued that Webb did not provide any evidence of bias in his motion for a new trial nor any substantiation that the bicycles were defective.

“This is the worst form of lawyering – Monday-morning quarterbacking,” Early said.

In a rebuttal, Webb said it was true his side did not raise the issue of bias during the trial, but he said they were astonished by the verdict.

“All we had to prove is that they sold the product, they made a profit from the product and the product failed,” Webb said.

Webb also has filed a motion requesting Dufficy disqualify himself from the case. A hearing is scheduled next Thursday.